Around NY

Published 9:55 pm, Tuesday, July 29, 2014

ALBANY — Thirteen states have settled an investigation into improper lending with a court agreement that is expected to provide $92 million in debt relief for 17,800 U.S. military personnel.

Deceptive practices by Rome Finance Co., more recently doing business as Colfax Capital Corp. and Culver Capital LLC, based in California and Georgia, included failing to accurately disclose charges and interest rates, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday. Authorities also alleged the lenders helped retailers inflate prices, with repayments taken from troops' paychecks.

Authorities say military personnel will keep financed merchandise like computers and gaming systems with debt forgiven, including $2.2 million for more than 550 state residents.

— Associated Press

Hudson Valley heroin sweep nets nine arrests

MIDDLETOWN — Nine suspects have been arrested in the second phase of a federal sweep targeting heroin trafficking in the Hudson Valley.

Authorities say all nine suspects in custody have Middletown addresses, but the arrests stretched as far as York, Pa.

All the arrests occurred about 6 a.m. Tuesday when a SWAT team was deployed. One suspect is still being sought.

The suspects face federal charges of conspiracy to distribute heroin. If convicted, they could face federal prison terms between 10 and 20 years.

In the first phase of the sweep last November, authorities arrested 12 men and two women. They were accused of running a large-scale, Middletown-based trafficking operation dating back to at least 2007.